Welcome to the “Forgetting Dad” filmmaker blog

FORGETTING DAD is a feature documentary (84 min.) written, directed and edited by German-based US filmmakers Rick Minnich and Matt Sweetwood. It tells the bizarre story of Rick’s father’s sudden and incomprehensible amnesia, which began one week after a seemingly harmless car accident in 1990. After the onset of his amnesia, Rick’s father re-christened himself “New Richard” and began a completely new life, leaving his family feeling abandoned and baffled at where “Old Richard” went.

“Forgetting Dad” is a documentary detective story which takes viewers on an emotional roller coaster ride to the various family members and to one of Richard’s former colleagues in search of answers to why Richard’s memory has never returned. Along the way, Rick uncovers startling facts which shed new light on his father’s amnesia. Is everything really as Richard has led everyone to believe, or is there more to his memory loss than meets the eye?

FORGETTING DAD is a co-production of German television ZDF and the German production company Hoferichter & Jacobs GmbH in association with rickfilms. Additional support was provided by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Kuratorium junger deutscher Film, MEDIA, and Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung. World Sales are being handled by Jan Rofekamp at Films Transit, Inc. Distribution in Germany is being handled by W-Film in Cologne.

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25 Responses

Hi Rick, Congratulations on the big premiere of your most personal work ever. I am so proud of you and although I have not yet seen the entire film, the trailer has had a deep and lasting impression on me. So many memories…so many pictures I had long forgotten. I am proud to be your “big” sister!

Thanks for the sisterly compliments. It will be good to show it to you and the rest of the family soon. But I want to be there to show it to you in person. It’s kind of strange showing it to hundreds of people here at IDFA before showing it to my family!

I have to admit that the trailer gave me a lump in my throat. I am wondering what the emotional impact of finally viewing this film for the first time will be.
When will you be coming to a festival in the US? Will we have the opportunity to view the film prior to seeing it in a theatre with hundreds of people at a film festival?
I understand why you didn’t have us watch it when you came to the US for Jessica’s wedding….. I just wish I knew what intimate parts of our lives others were viewing.
I am proud of your success and hopeful that the completion of this film will put some of your demons to rest.

I also wonder a lot what it’s going to be like for the whole family to watch the film. I really want to be there in person when it happens. The film is attracting a lot of interest here in Amsterdam, and we’ve been getting quite a few festival invitations. But I don’t yet know when and where the US premiere will be.
Don’t worry too much about strangers seeing your intimate life – we left out all the juicy stuff!
I don’t know if my demons will ever be put to rest, but thanks for caring! You always were a great big sister!

wow, that was definitely a highlight and overwhelmed to see that real story. One part is for sure the astonishing personal story which is very emotional, but on the other hand the way the story is told.

I believe almost everybody has some family secrets at least small once nobody wants to talk about or is not interested in. But this one is a different story.

Thanks for the nice response, and thanks for coming to see FORGETTING DAD at the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis. Yes, every family has its deep, dark secrets. I guess my family’s is just a bit stranger than usual. It’s always good to hear that FD has the power to move people outside my family, and that it’s not merely a private film. If you have any great tips on where we can show the film, please let me know. Best wishes, Rick

Hi Rick,
I saw your film at T/F this weekend. WOW…my husband and I can not stop talking about this film!
This film hit me close to home as I too have a parent who re-invented herself when I was 13 leaving me and my family, physically and emotionally alone in an attempt to “discover who she really was” and start a “new life”. One that really didn’t include me, my siblings or any of her old friends. Even though she is highly educated,I believe she suffered, and continues to suffer, from border-line personality disorder. She doesn’t seem capable of maintaining long-term relationships which I believe is a part of her mental illness.
Your story however, has so many, many more layers, and unanswered questions ……I can only speculate on. To me, that’s what a good film does…….it engages me and makes me think about it.
Congratulations and thank you Rick.
All my best,
Sally

Thanks for the report. I would love to have been there, but couldn’t be two places at the same time. I opted to attend the It’s All True film festival in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro instead of Full Frame. I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go to Brazil. The screenings here were also quite good, and the Q & A long as usual. It continued on well after they kicked us out of the theater for the next screening.
I’m working on a FAQ which I’ll post at http://www.forgettingdad.com. In short, my father stopped talking to me about two years ago as a result of the film. He repeatedly accused me of spreading rumors about him among my (our) relatives. He felt like I was turning the family against him. I gave him many, many opportunities to tell his side of the story, but he chose not to. So far, my mother is the only person in the film who has seen it. She was at the screenings at True/False last month, and was quite moved. She also received a lot of compliments from viewers about her “performance.” I want to be there when everyone sees the film for the first time, and simply have not had the opportunity to get to California yet to show it to everyone personally. Hopefully that will change in the coming months.
If you have any specific questions, let me know.
Best wishes,
Rick

Hi Anna,
Glad to hear the movie touched you.
I live in Berlin, and all of the film’s funding came from Germany. That’s why there are all those German credits. ZDF will broadcast the film later this year or in early 2010. The broadcast date has not yet been set, but I’ll post it on the website when it has been set in stone.
We have another screening at the Bloor this Saturday at 4 p.m. Please send lots of people there.
Thanks!
Rick

Just got back from seeing your film at a festival
Its amazing! Great film!
Has your dad seen it?
I think you should send him a copy.
I believe its important that he sees it.

I believe this sort of thing can only happen in America. Because it is such a conservative culture, where you have to live “The American Dream” and so its either your in it or not- no alternative culture acceptable. To much social pressure to “fit in” and “succeed” in a very narrow way.
Anyway- great job

Also – have you read Umberto Eco’s :
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

Hi Dana,
Thanks for your comments. I would have loved to have come to Tel Aviv for the screening at Doc Aviv, but had a prior commitment in Warsaw. No, my father has not seen the film, at least not that I’m aware of. As he puts it, he “terminated” our relationship two years ago (six months after we shot the final scene of the film). I haven’t heard anything from him since then, nor has he replied to any of my attempts to contact him. I’m hesitant to simply send him the film because it’s hard to know how he’ll react. I showed it to my family in California two weeks ago, and their reactions were very positive. My step-mother Loretta, in particular, was very happy to have her story told. And Justin was so excited that he brought over some of his friends to watch it again. It was as though he wanted to prove to them that all the crazy stuff he’s been telling them all these years really did happen. In many ways, the film has brought my family closer together, even if it has led to the end (at least for now) of my relationship with New Richard.
I agree with what you say about American culture. That’s why I don’t live there. I don’t need all that pressure.
I have indeed read “The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana.” I enjoyed the first half, but really struggled through the rest. I think Eco just wanted to show off his vast knowledge and forgot about telling a story.

I saw the film recently, and while I think it’s very well put together, very moving, and nicely edited, i just wish it resolved to something more than your unrelenting anger at a very screwed up fragmented personality. It seems to me his unconscious has done a very elaborate shell game with itself, that his conscious mind is not being fully allowed in on. Your anger is directed at a ventriloquist dummy, and the operator is not going to talk to you. However, i try to avoid the word should, and you have just as much right to your side of this story as he does his. I hope at the very least this film leads to other successes for you; at least he will have given you the raw material for that. If he hadn’t had this event, it sounds like you wouldn’t have had much of a father anyway, so in some ways, in the long run, aspects of this can be seen as a gift.

Hi Sheldon,
Thanks for your comments. We tried very hard throughout the making of the film to make it not feel like some tirade against my father. While there are certainly moments of anger which come out, most viewers so far have not felt that they dominate. I think you’re probably right that my father’s unconscious did a number on him. Surely there’s some reason for what happened. It’s curious how you speak of the whole event of my father’s amnesia as possibly being a “gift” to me. Maybe it is in some ways. At least it has brought my family back together in some ways – united by a bizarre mystery that will probably never be solved. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if my relationship to my father was already going downhill as a result of his divorce to my mother, or if things really got worse when his amnesia began. I definitely underestimated the long-term effects such events can have on children, even once they’re all grown up.
By the way, I’ve now posted some FAQs on the website (scroll down a bit, can also be downloaded as a PDF): http://www.forgettingdad.com/about.html

i was at the Dublin showing and was present as you gave questions and answers.
the film was very nicely paced out i thought, and im sure your glad to have it done and dusted. I have no real negative things to say and have recommended it to many people.

Its a very frustrating thing for you and I personally believe it should be laid to rest, the movie is a bold statement and i think it may have being the only way to tackle your father. I don’t think your father will ever watch the film, but in reality it was not made for him as your title suggests in ways. Its kind of a though reality.

Memory is such an interesting subject matter weather it be factual or a fiction movie and i think your movie has really hit the hammer on the head here .. would your next project touch slightly with this theme again or veer to another path

Hi Peter,
Glad you could make it to the Dublin screening. Thanks for your comments. Yes, it’s time to lay the whole thing to rest – slow process, but something that is starting to happen, largely in part due to the film. Memory is indeed a very bizarre thing and a painful reminder of just how fragile we humans are.
Although I’d really love to make something light-hearted now, another difficult topic has been following me around – a father-son story set here in Germany, which fortunately has nothing to do with my own family. We’ll see what becomes of it.
I had a terrific time in Ireland, first at the Guth Gafa film festival in Donegal, then at Stranger Than Fiction. Maybe some Irish topic will come my way …
Cheers,
Rick

We have never met, but I knew your father before and after the accident. I was just a teenager when the accident happened and have from time to time wondered whatever became of Richard and if his memory ever returned. I’m saddend that Loretta and the kids suffered much more than I ever could have known at the time, and in hindsight wish I could have done more to help. Please pass along my best regards and email address. I would also like to view the movie, but don’t see where I can purchase it. Could I get some help with that. Congratulations for a film well done!

Hi Dennis,
I know exactly who you are. We filmed with both your father and your mother. Your father made it into the final cut, but your mother didn’t. Both mentioned you and showed me pictures of you so I kind of feel like I know you. How did you stumble upon the “Forgetting Dad” website? Just curious. The film has been touring film festivals around the world since last November, but has yet to play in California (are you still in N. Calif.?) I’m hoping to screen at some festivals there this autumn, however. The DVD probably won’t come out until next year. Email me your mailing address, and I’ll send you an advance screener.
Say hi to your mom and dad for me.
Thanks for writing,
Rick

Hi Pam,
Thanks for your comments. How did the film go over in Indianapolis?

Forgiveness is a great thing, but I’m still not sure that there’s anything to forgive my father for. Is he a victim or a perpetrator? In my eyes, the jury is still out on that one. It’s a shame he completely broke off our relationship two years ago. I’ve made countless attempts to contact him, but he never responds. I don’t know what else to try.

The only real consolation for me has been that making the film has brought my family closer together and touched the hearts of thousands of strangers all around the world. I never really knew if anyone would care about my family’s story, but apparently some people do.